23rd March 2016

More photos!

A visit to the Kiwi North museum just outside Whangarei gave us our first sight of live Kiwi on a webcam in their underground nesting site. Kind of cute until you realise that the fighting spurs on the back of their legs are used in anger according to their keeper. The amazing thing about Kiwi is that their internal organs are pushed up towards their head and they have no sternum as such so they are very frail around their breast. And the reason for this is the size of their single egg, around 400-450gm which takes up the whole of the body cavity. Given the size of the bird is less than a football, I did feel a twinge of maternal sympathy for the kiwi Mum! And of course the breeding programme which nurtures the chicks until they are about 6 months old and can more easily defend themselves from predators like stoats and rats, has helped this endangered species.

The gecko really is this splendid shade of green, and I'll leave you to read about the Tuatara, a living fossil from the age of the dinosaurs. The Moa bones we have seen are just amazingly big and the bird in life, extraordinary.

The Clarkson's house is a typical C19th settlers house, with more character than recent new build, one can see the influences of homeland here.

One of our overnight stays produced a real gem of a colonial house complete with wild turkeys!

The old storehouse is reputed to be the oldest standing building in NZ, built as a trading post in the early C19th and stands at Keri Keri, just NW of the Bay of Islands, at the limit of the navigable estuary and served the settlers and later communities before closing in the 60's. It is now renovated and a charming gift shop, cafe and tour hub.

All our best,

Lynne, Alan and Josh